If you were sitting down as a child and fantasizing about your dream home, your mind inevitably wandered to the features you longed for: perhaps a pool full of chocolate pudding, a basketball court, and a bowling alley. As you’ve gotten older, though, the features you envision during your dreams probably have changed and now include more mundane options, but it’s still good practice to have what you want at top of mind while home searching.
When beginning the search for your new home, it’s important to come prepared with a wish list. The wish list may change over time, as you may see additional amenities during your tours that you never considered, but it’s always good to start with a baseline.
Price
Before jumping into the market and looking for your home, know how much you’re willing to spend. There are different ways you can research and calculate how much you can comfortably spend depending on your income level and other factors. When you begin the hunt, you don’t necessarily have to only look at homes that perfectly match the price range you come up with, though. Finding homes that may be a bit less expensive than you planned for and require some improvements can be a preferable option to buying a turnkey home that maxes out your budget.
Location
Whether you’re single and looking for your first home or seeking a forever home that your family will grow into, location is obviously very important. Consider not only your dream location, but also at least two or three others that would work for you, too. Your priority may be having a shorter commute or being closer to your favorite leisure activities. Location can also factor into the overall value of your home as the years go on, factoring into any decisions to sell the property in the future.
Style and Build of the Homes
When choosing a home, you can focus on the fixtures and how you may want to change them, but first and foremost it’s better to consider the structure of the home itself and how it will fit your needs. The process of choosing between a ranch or two-story home, for example, could all rest upon whether you foresee yourself being okay with carrying laundry up and downstairs for an indefinite period of time. For your area, you may also know that you want a two-car garage rather than a carport or street parking situation. This means considering the build of the home and keeping in mind that you may either need to compromise or keep searching.
Perhaps you see yourself in the perfect colonial home, complete with symmetrical columns and shutters. Or you may envision a home adorned with red roof tiles and colorful decorative tiles in the Southwestern style. Or you may only know the home of your dreams when you see it and not have a preference at all. Once again, the style of the home itself should be considered a priority on your wish list, since that style affects the whole vibe of the home and is not easily changed on either an aesthetic level or a structural one.
Special Features
Every family is different, so when looking for a home, keep in mind what amenities and fixtures you must have in order to accommodate all of your family’s needs. If you live in a multigenerational household, you may want to find a home that has an “in-law suite” or a casita. With an in-law suite, your extended family would still be located within the home itself, whereas with a casita, they would be able to have their own space in a tiny house that is detached from the main building.
Finding your home can be a fun and exciting process. Even if you begin with no idea of how you want it to look aesthetically, know what you desire most out of the functionality so that the home can serve you well in the years to come. When creating your wish list, keep in mind the features that can be upgraded in the future, such as flooring and fixtures, versus structural aspects of the home that can also be renovated but will come with a much heavier price tag. When it comes to finding the home that checks as many boxes as possible off of your wish list, contact Cal Realty and we can assist you along every step in the process.
